A delegation of 20 African-American business and community leaders will travel from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., as part of a mission to increase the visibility of the ongoing violence and bloodshed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The United Congo Support Group will take their message to the annual "CBC Weekend," held by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Congressional Black Caucus. This year's event, scheduled for Sept. 23 to 26, will bring elected officials together with constituents and others. According to the foundation's website, members of the Congressional Black Caucus "need and want all constituents to seize this opportunity to speak freely and often about their concerns, to network and build relationships."
Representatives of the contingent from Los Angeles said they intend to do just that by focusing on recent violence in the Congo.
"We want to bring awareness to our black politicians that are gathering that we are concerned about the mass murders, and why it hasn't been labeled a genocide, and why more hasn't been done to stop it, and to bring attention to these multinational corporations that are profiting from the atrocities," said Nehanda Sankofa-Ra, a founding member of United Congo Support Group.
The New York-based International Rescue Committee — which operates a global network of humanitarian relief workers, first responders and other volunteers in hot spots around the globe — estimates that 5.4 million people have been killed since 1996 due to war in the Congo, and that 45,000 people die each month from hunger and disease. Additionally, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped as part of a calculated tactic of the wars that have raged in the Central African nation.
Despite these numbers, New York-based Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, which serves as a watchdog for media bias and censorship since, contends that U.S. media coverage of the conflict can be summed up as follows: "Congo is not a forgotten country; it's an ignored country."
One hypothesis for what some say is the lack of media exposure is that such coverage would call attention to underlying causes of the conflict, including control of the Congo's abundant natural resources by multinational corporations.
Diamonds, gold, coltan, uranium, tin, cobalt, copper, silver, niobium, timber, hydropower magnesium and petroleum are some of the Congo's sought-after resources, according who gave a commentary on the Congo for the "Tom Joyner Morning Show," a popular syndicated program featured on African-American radio stations across the U.S.
The pursuit of those resources barely elicit a mention in much of the media's coverage of the Congo.
An example is the topic of rape in the Congo. Lisa Jackson's celebrated film, "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo," is credited with bringing the muted voices of female rape victims to a worldwide audience. In the film, she also interviews male members of Congolese militias who say they rape women due to their need for sex after being "in the bush" for so long.
Such a rationale ignores the widely held premise that rape is not about sex — and it does not explain the horrific accounts of torture that often accompanies the acts of rape in the Congo. Also unaddressed by such explanations is increase in incidents of male rape in the Congo, as detailed in an Aug. 5 New York Times article.
Activists say that various armed groups that supplant any legitimate government and negotiate with corporations for extraction of and payment for the Congo's mineral wealth keep the conflict going.
The contingent from Los Angeles wants elected officials in Washington to follow the money in seeking solutions for the Congo.
"We want them (the CBC) to talk to the corporations — we voted them into office, the black representatives [in Congress] and the White House," said Sankofa-Ra. "We want them to know that we're supporting them if they stand up for us on this issue. We will support them in any way that they need if they go against these corporations, because they're going to need that."
The Angelenos plans to hold a press conference and roundtable discussion during the weekend's activities, according to Zyra McCloud, president of the International Black Chambers of Commerce, headquartered on La Brea Avenue in Inglewood, a first-ring suburb just south of Los Angeles.
The purpose "is to encourage African-Americans to travel to the Congo to fact-find for themselves, and for African-American business people to see what they can do to promote economic development, international trade and investment, commerce," McCloud said.
Ken Johnson, main organizer of the roundtable, said the scheduled participants include Serge Mombouli, ambassador from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; George Alula, author of "Congo: The Ignored Economic Genocide;" and Inglewood Councilman Danny Tabor. Johnson is a committee member of the California delegation to CBC and a principal in the international development firm Devconia, and will also sit on the panel.
For more information, interested persons can contact the United Congo Support group at assistanceforcongo@yahoo.com.
Thandisizwe Chimurenga is an Assistant Editor at the L.A. Watts Times.
Photo by Marty Cotwright
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